AUSTIN (KXAN) — The City government’s 17-year-old, paper-based time keeping system has drawn the ire of some city employees, who say it’s past time they move out of the paper age and into the digital age.

In anonymous comments sent internally from city employees to their managers, several of Austin’s approximately 14,000 employees working in different large departments said paper time sheets just don’t jive with the city’s goal of being environmentally friendly and the “best managed city in the country.”

Unbelievable. I have never filled out a paper time sheet, because I have only worked in the age of the PC and Internet. I’ve been working in software since 1994. I’m amazed that in 2016, Austin is still using paper-based processes.

Of course, it may not be as simple as recording time, but the article’s attributed comments regarding cost and scope sound over the top to me. Rather than assume it would cost millions, put someone on the hook to figure it out. Replacing only the paper and not the integrations and processes, leaving all the same people in place, just requires a simple time recording tool. Happy to make a recommendation for free on that score.